In the field of computer applications, greater and greater memory capacities are required. This is also true for personal computers, which are becoming more and more popular. Market demands such as mobility, comfort, versatility, etc. are important incentives for progressive integration and further miniaturization of the packing technology. Thus, in the development of semiconductor memory chips, a quadrupling of the capacity can be expected every two years. Nevertheless, with each generation of semiconductor memory chips it is necessary to employ packing techniques which achieve the greatest possible total capacities.
While in the past the semiconductor memory chips in personal computers have been soldered onto motherboards, particularly in plug-in assembly, memory cards are being used more and more. These memory cards contain numerous semiconductor memory chips of the same kind in a narrow space and can be used easily by the user. Chip modules which likewise contain a plurality of semiconductor memory chips have been known for some time, but usually these must be soldered onto motherboards.
In the field of memory cards, a committee for standardization has formed which has since come to be known under the designation PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association). Accordingly, memory cards have a format of 60.times.94 mm and 68 terminals, given a thickness of up to 3.3 mm (type I), of up to 5 mm (type II), of up to 10.5 mm (type II), and, in planning, up to 16.5 mm (type IV). Such memory cards are easy to handle and are provided specifically for future use in laptops and notebooks. The conventional construction involves the assembly of housed semiconductor memory chips on printed boards in what is known as SMT (Surface Mount Technology). The wire bonding of non-encapsulated semiconductor memory chips onto the wiring is also known. Due to the necessary meshing of the semiconductor memory chips with each other, double-sided or multilayered wirings are necessary.